cong-don



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1. H. W. CONGDON.

SELF REGISTERING LUMBER MEASURE; No. 566,140, Patented Aug. 18, 1896.

WITNESSES. l/VI/E/VTOR ATTORNEYS.

PHOTOLITNQ, WASHINGTON, n. z;

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' H. W. OONGDON.

'SELF REGISTERING LUMBER MEASURE.

No. 566,140. Patented'Aug. 18, 1896.

Fly. 94

WITNESSES: l/Vl/E/VTOR A NOR/VH8.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orricn.

HENRY IV. CONGDON, OF IVEEPING WVATER, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR TO i HIMSELF AND GEORGE SMITH, OF SAME PLACE.

SELF-REGISTERING LUMBER-MEASURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 566,140, dated August 18, 1896. Application filed April 29,1896. Serial No. 589,496. (Nb model- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY W. CONGDON, of \Veepin g Water, in the county of Cass and State of Nebraska, have invented a new and Improved Self-Registering Lumber-Measure, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of theinvention is .to provide a new and improved self-registering lumbermeasure which is simple and durable in construction, very effective in operation, and arranged for readily measuring lumber of varying length, width, and'thickness.

The invention consists principally of one or more driving or measuring wheels adapted to be run over the width of the lumber, a se ries of length-gaged gear-Wheels held on the shaft of said driving-wheels, a registering device provided on its units-shaft with a series of gear-wheels opposite said length-gaged gearwheels, and a series of intermediate gea rwheels adapted to mesh with the corresponding length gaged gear-Wheels on the unitsshaft.

The invention also consists of certain parts and details and combinations of the same, as will be fully described hereinafter, and then pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a side elevation of the improvement. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation of the same on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. .1.- is an inverted plan view of the same. Fig. 5 is a sectional side elevation of the same on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a similar View of the same on the line 6 6 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 7 is a transverse section of the same 011 the line 7 7 of Fig. 5.

The improved self-registerin g in mber-measure is provided With a suitably-constructed box A, in which is journaled a transverselyextending shaft B, carrying a driving or measuring wheel 0, preferably formed on its periphery with points or sharp teeth, projecting below the under side of the box A, so that when the latter is passed across the lumber the wheel 0 rolls over accordingly to measure the width of the lumber.

On the shaft B is secured a series of lengthgaged geanwheels'D D D provided with a number of teeth corresponding to the length of lumber to be measured by the instrument. Thus, for instance, as shown, the gear-wheels D D D have sixteen, fourteen, and twelve teeth, respectively, for the measuring apparatus in question, the numbers sixteen, fourteen, and twelve indicating the length of the boards in feet. It is, however, understood that I do not limit myself to gear-wheels having such number of teeth, as it is evident that the gear-Wheels are constructed with a number of teeth corresponding to the length of the lumber to be measured.

Opposite the length-gaged gear-wheels D, D,

and D are arranged the gear-wheels E E E each having, say, forty teeth, and all three being secured on a transversely-extending unitsshai't F, carrying at one outer end a pointer G, indicating on a units-dial H, secured to one side of the box A and inclosed within a casing A, having a transparent face, to permit the operator to see and read the dials.

On the shaft F is secured a pinion I, in mesh with a gear-wheel I, secured on a tensshaft J, carrying on one outer end a pointer G, indicating on a tens-dial I-I, arranged alongside the dial H in the casing A, as indicated in Fig. 1. On the shaft J is secured a pinion I in mesh with a gear-Wheel 1 secured on ahundreds-shaft J, carrying on one outer end a pointer G indicating on a dial H arranged Within the boxing A. (See Fig. 1.)

It is evident that dials and intermediate mechanisms similar to the ones described may beemployed to indicate larger amounts, such as thousands, ten thousands, '&c.

Now in order to rotate the units-shaft F from the shaft 13, according to the length of the lumber, I provide a series of intermediate gear-wheels K K K arranged in alinement with the gear-wheels D, E, D, E, D and E respectively, and these gear-wheels are normally held out of mesh with the corresponding set of gear-wheels, but can be thrown in mesh according to the length of the lumber to be measured. Thus for sixteen-foot lumber the gear-wheel K is brought in mesh with the gear-wheels D E, for fourteen-foot lumber the gear-wheel K is in mesh with the geanwheels D E, and for twelvefoot lumber the gear-wheel K is thrown in mesh with the gear-wheels Dfland E The gear-wheels K, K, and K are journaled independently in suitable bearings on the levers L L L respectively fulcrumed at one end of the box A and pressed on at their free ends by springs N, so as to hold the said levers normally in an uppermost position, as indicated in Fig. 6.

On the end of the box A carrying the fulcrums for the levers L L L is secured a spring-arn1 0, formed at its free end with a vertical lug or projection 0, adapted to pass through an opening in the end of the box to engage and press downward the corresponding lever L, L, or L to hold said lever and its gear-wheel in mesh with the corresponding set of gear-wheels above mentioned. Thus, as shown in Figs. 2, 5, and 7, the spring-arm O presses the lever L downward against the tension of its spring N to hold the gear-wheel K in mesh with the gearwheels D and E so that the apparatus can be used for measuring twelve-foot lumber by running the instrument across the width of the lumber, as previously explained. The area of the lumber thus measured is indicated by the pointers G, G, and G on the dials II, II, and 1-1 respectively.

lVhen it is desired to measure fourteen-foot lumber, the operator simply takes hold of the spring-arm O and lifts the same out of engagement with the lever L and moves it into engagement with the lever L. In a similar manner sixteen-foot lumber can be measured by moving the spring-arm O in engagement with the lever L. 011 removing the sprin g-arm 0 from aleverthe latter will return to its normal uppermost position by the action of its spring N.

N 0w it will be seen that when the drivingwheel 0 is three inches in circumference it will make four revolutions in rolling the device across a twelve-inch board, and if the gear-wheel K on the lever L is in mesh with the gear-wheels D and It then the shaft F will make one and one-fifth revolution, and consequently the pointer G will have made one and one-fifth revolution past zero, and will stand at 2 on the dial H and the pointer G will stand at 1 on the dial I-I, thus indicating that the board contains twelve feet of lumber. This will hold good for measuring lumber one inch thick, but for lumber one and OI16-(1llt1i)61,0116 and one-half, or two inches in thickness itis necessary to provide driving-wheels G of different diameters.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A self-registering lumber-measure, comprising a driving-wheel adapted to be run over the width of the lumber, a series of lengthgaged gear-wheels held on the shaft of the driving-wheel, a registering device provided on its units-shaft with a series of gear-wheels opposite the said length-gaged gear-wheels, and a series of intermediate gear wheels adapted to be moved in mesh with the corresponding length-gaged gear-wheels on the units-shaft, substantially as shown and de scribed.

2. A self-registering lumber-measure, comprising a driving-wheel adapted to be run over the width of the lumber, a series of lengthgaged gear-wheels held on the shaft of the driving-wheel, a registering device provided on its units-shaft with a series of gear-wheels opposite the said lengtlrgaged gear-wheels, and a series of intermediate gear wheels adapted to be moved in mesh with the corresponding length-gaged gear-wheels on the units-shaft, each intermediate gear-wheel being independently journ aled on a lever under the control of the operator, substantially as shown and described.

3. Aself-registering lumberuneasu re, comprising a driving-wheel adapted to be run over the width of the lumber, a series of lengthgaged gear-wheels held on the shaft of the driving-wheel, a registering device provided on its unitsshaft with a series of gear-wheels opposite the said length-gaged gear-wheels, a series of intermediate gear-wheels adapted to be moved in mesh with the corresponding length-gaged gearwhecls on the units-shaft, a lever for each intermediate gear-wheel, a spring for holding the said lever in an uppermost position and its gear-wheel out of mesh, and a spring-arm adapted to engage each of said levers and press the same downward against the tension of its spring, to move the gear-wheel on this lever in mesh with the cor responding gear-wheel on the units'shaft of the measure, substantially as shown and described.

HENRY 'W. CONGDON.

\Vitnesses:

E. J. llllonsnn,

iEO. SMITH. 

